A Study of Photojournalism: Joachim Ladefoged

            This photograph shows a Danish bodybuilder competing in the 2001 Danish Bodybuilding Championships.  While this subject is a female, it is hard to tell because she has worked off every ounce of fat from her and has injected testosterone into her body. According to an article that ran in The Independent, Bodybuilders tan their bodies extremely so that their muscles can be seen clearly from the stage. 

The photo was taken by Danish photojournalist Joachim Ladefoged.  The photo was published alongside other photos of extreme bodybuilders in Ladefoged’s book Mirrors published in 2008 as well as in the U.K. based magazine The Independent.   Ladefoged has published both news and social documentary photos in publications in the U.S. and Europe. According to Reuel Golden in his book Photojournalism 1855 to the Present, Ladefoged is known for both the artist aspects of his work as well as the honesty of his images.   Ladefoged spoke about his experience photographing bodybuilders in The Independent, saying “their eyes really told the story.” Also in the piece that ran in The Independent, Ladefoged explained that most of them had been bullied in school either because they were fat or because of some other imperfection in their appearances.  He tried to make this woman smile, but she remained with this detached look on her face.   

            For this project, Ladefoged photographed his subjects without any indication as to who these people were outside of their accentuated muscles.  He chose a dark background because it made their suffering eyes standout and gave them a “haunting” look to match their ghostlike dispositions.     

            This photo displays a sense of prominence because bodybuilders are well-known subjects in the sports world, especially in Europe.  The photo also contains the news value of timeliness and drama because society is becoming more obsessed with body image, and it’s becoming harder to draw the line between health and appearance.  The photo also contains both impact and bizarreness because it is a “haunting” image to view, and the woman is so toned that she appears asexual.  The photo also shows an artistic value because it falls in between the realms of artistic portraiture and social documentary.